For my son, when he grows up, this site will be my legacy for him. The decisions his mother and I made for him, to understand them, to learn from them and to lead a life without prejudice and to succeed in it on his own merit.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

New Zealand boleh!

Although I had a very short stint in New Zealand a couple of years back, my exposure there was sufficient to allowed me a perceived accurate view of the environment and atmosphere of the culture embedded into the citizen from a tender age. Values are taught about corruptions from pre-school onwards. These very same values, thru educations and interactive classes, are emphasized in their entire schooling days.

Enforcement alone and probably the last bastion of fulfilment, cannot eradicate this short fall to tackle and overcome corruption completely. It has to start from young. And to succeed, it have to be instilled into the minds of every citizen the day they start to expose themselves into society, and generations will take root and embrace this concept as they move on in life. NZ did not achieve this overnight.

Below is a caption from the NZ's SFO (Serious Fraud Office) aka Anti Corruption Agency website

New Zealand Anti-Corruption Agencies

New Zealand does not have any one single agency tasked with fighting corruption. Unlike many other countries it has not seen the need to create an Independent Commission Against Corruption. Rather it has a number of agencies that focus on the different elements in the fight against corruption. Some of these agencies have their focus on the more positive task of reinforcing values to ensure that New Zealand maintains a corruption free environment; others focus on the enforcement of the laws and the rules. The two main law enforcement agencies responsible for anti-corruption investigations and prosecutions are the New Zealand Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the New Zealand Police.

The New Zealand Serious Fraud Office

Established in 1990, the SFO focuses on serious or complex fraud. The legislation governing the SFO does not attempt to define serious or complex fraud beyond saying that it includes a series of connected incidents of fraud which, if taken together, amount to serious or complex fraud. Rather the Act provides guidance to the Director as to the facts that the Director should have regard to in determining which cases to investigate.

Those factors are:

the suspected nature and consequences of the fraud;

the suspected scale of the fraud;

the legal, factual, and evidential complexity of any matter;

any relevant public interest considerations.

Most instances of bribery, corruption and secret commissions would fall within this descriptive section. The SFO is particularly well placed to conduct or assist with any investigation which requires an analysis of financial transactions. Instances of bribery or corruption will often only be established after a careful analysis of financial transactions and money flows.

All investigations undertaken by the SFO are conducted by a multi disciplinary team comprising an experienced investigator, a forensic accountant and a prosecutor. That team is supervised by a very experienced senior investigator or forensic accountant.

Economic crime or corruption is always clandestine and usually extremely well planned. The people involved are often well-educated and may occupy relatively senior positions in the community. The only evidence may be a complex set of arrangements understood only by those involved in the scheme. It was against that background that the New Zealand Parliament legislated special powers for the SFO.

The powers of the Director of the SFO go beyond those of the Police in New Zealand. The Director is able to issue a Notice requiring the production of any information or documents that the Director feels may assist the investigation. Furthermore, the Director, by Notice, is able to require any person to appear before the Director to answer questions. At such a compulsory interview the person must answer all questions irrespective of whether those answers will incriminate that person. However, under the legislation, the Director is not able to use any such incriminating answers in evidence against that person unless the person gives evidence inconsistent with their responses in any subsequent prosecution. All duties of confidentiality with the exception of legal professional privilege are set aside by the SFO Act 1990.

2 comments:

  1. Hi As I See It....NZ is a lovely place with a lovely set of values. This can only happen where there is genuine respect for the right of masses -- something which is still lacking in Malaysia. There is a lot of good people in Malaysia but there is also a lot of work to be done -- to get the good to over ride all the corrupt people out there!

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  2. lady lavender, the funny thing is, our leaders are all very very well travelled and exposed sufficiently to what is happening in other countries. Malaysia progressed all these years merely on visual "eye candy" aspect, eg. mega structures, industry, business, economics, etc. but the social intrinsic and values, including the slave mentally to power, money and authority, are but one of the fews we overlooked and lacked behind.

    yes, it will need lots of work to be done. the first step is to start within oneself.

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